Loui Eriksson looks to the heavens after missing yet another scoring chance.Harry How / Getty Images

BEST WTF

He is the $36 million man.

The man with one goal. And that he scored into his own net.

The coach can’t figure out who he should play with. It hasn’t worked with the Sedins. It hasn’t worked with anyone else.

He’s not getting scoring chances. Worse, he’s soft along the wall. Often. Like on tonight’s second goal.

Ken Pagan had a better chance of possessing that puck by firing a beer can.

Things will get better. There will be streaks. I’m going to pin a cue card to my laptop.

“He scored 30 last year. Remember this.”

It’s hard right now. I see Vrbata but without the shot and without the great start Vrbata had in his first year here.

Oh, and a contract that’s four years longer.

I don’t see Eriksson playing much with the Sedins this year. At the stage of their career, they need speed. They need Hansen. And I’d bet at the end of year the vast majority of their playing time will have been with Dransen.

Mostly because he can do things Eriksson can’t, things like this:

Look at the room he creates.

So what does that mean for Eriksson? He’s going to have to make it work with Sutter.

BEST HOPE

It’s only nine games. Eriksson has to be able to figure this out.

Maybe he’s trying to … do too much? You’ve heard that theory before.

Coach?

“I think he is feeling pressure to perform,” Willie said. “I think he feels responsible lots of nights where he’s not creating stuff.”

So every night.

Who can this guy play with?

“I haven’t seemed to be able to find a good match with him on a line. He hasn’t seemed to be real comfortable with a spot yet.”

BEST WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

The Canucks aren’t always going to lose five in a row. But they will always make scoring look like giving birth.

There’s not a lot offensive creativity on the team. Although, it’s true, they haven’t won without Burrows and Dorsett.

Maybe those two are winning culture carriers?

Maybe it all changes when they’re healthy.

Problem is, Im not seeing MORE GOALZZZ with them in the lineup.

It’s nine games in and the city is in panic. Even with the team at 4-4-1. There are two reasons, one the team won the first three without leading.

Two, they are scoring 1.78 goals a game, which is historically bad. The kind of bad that gets you on a path to 65 points.

The team made a huge gamble on Eriksson. It also made bets on Baertschi and even Rodin. Betting on Skille probably wasn’t the best idea.

They could use some depth where guys at least have the upside to score goals if all goes right.

But there is real worry here. How do I know? My texts are filling up with “Trade the Sedins!”

That’s when you know it’s real bad.

I honestly don’t see Jim going that route. Ever.

Maybe Eriksson has seven goals in February, Miller is hurt and Virtanen is in he minors and not scoring half-a-point a game (all possible) and the GM is the one who’s gassed (anything’s possible).

If that happens and a new GM comes in selling rebuild, possibly then the Sedins could be moved.

But that’s still a long way from here.

About the best chance they have now is to move Tanev, which isn’t crazy. His stock is sky high around the league.

They have Juolevi and looks like Stecher on the come. Edler isn’t worth much. Maybe a pick and a prospect.

But that would have to be some guaranteed talent coming if you’re going to trade a rock like Tanev, who will soon be 27 years old.

Somebody like Hall.

BEST WHAT IF

Those 65-point jokes from two weeks ago don’t seem so funny anymore.

BEST IS IT TOO EARLY

@botchford Is it too early to start wondering whether Eriksson has a no trade clause? #Canucks

The Canucks were aware early in training that there was going to be an ongoing issue with Anton Rodin.

He did not do well in the team’s beep test, during which players run back and fourth, keeping pace with a series of beeps. Those beeps come faster and faster as time goes on.

It puts tremendous pressure on the lower body, and knees.

The strength and power just wasn’t there for Rodin. That was concerning right away because if Rodin is going to make it, he needs the explosive first three steps he had before the injury. It was his quickness, and burst, which made him so hard to contain in the Swedish Elite League.

That burst was missing in the beep test. And it really wasn’t there in preseason.

Rodin’s preseason was interesting. He improved during his first three games, in play and in ice time. He was in the lineup for games on Sept. 28, 30 and Oct. 2, progressing from 13 minutes to 18 in ice time.

But on Oct. 3 he was in the lineup for the second part of two games in two nights. I’ve been checking around to see if he knew, or was surprised, to be the lineup again. There has been a suggestion he didn’t expect to play that game but that part of the story remains unclear.

In the Oct. 3 game, he left with seven minutes to go and didn’t return.

He was in the lineup again three nights later and again left early, playing only 12 minutes. We haven’t seen him since.

Did the Canucks push him too much?

They wanted to play him a lot to see where his knee was at, and what he could handle.

Turns out, not that.

Now Rodin is likely out until December, not because of further damage, but because he needs to gain power and strength in that leg. Some seem to think there’s a chance it could be pushed to late December or the new year, as he works to strengthen his leg and knee.

But the team is hoping early in the month, or sooner, but even that seemed like a long time to Rodin.

He recently sought out an independent second medical opinion, something the team supported. The recovery timetable he got there was even more conservative than the Canucks plan.

The surgery was in January, so it’s fair to wonder if he’s going to get back to where he was before the cut this year.

Many around this situation, however, have been saying lately that it would take a year before he’s 100% again.

That puts him at full throttle in late January. But by then he’s so much of the NHL season, can he catch up?

He does have an irregularity in his knee cap which also could complicate things.

Now, Rodin is used to delays to this rehab process. After the surgery he was told there was a chance he could play again LAST season.

There are those who believe this actually put him back, because he started pushing the recovery, and his knee, too soon.

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